I recently purchased a used 2021 RZR XP 1000 Premium (~360 miles) and noticed the plastic piece that separates the two springs in the rear shock was slightly crooked and showed a little wear onto the shock body. Hopefully the pictures will make more sense. Is this something normal? If not, any solutions? Does the larger spring need rotated? Less Preload?
the wear always seems to happen. but your springs are not aligned. the ends of the springs need to 180 degrees apart, as in on opposite sides on the divider. that will keep it straighter on the shock body minimizing the wear. that and keep it clean of dirt and mud.
Easy tip... when you rotate the springs to the correct “clocking” mark them both with a sharpie so you know everything is cool at a glance every time you wash the car. ( I know I may be anal about it but I wash ours after every trip, it gives me a chance to give it a once over and inspect for damage before it gets to the point of a breakdown)
Super important to take care of your shocks by keeping them clean. I know guys who have completely wore through the Fox shock bodies on their machines. It’s crazy what dirt will do. Washing the dirt out or installing protective covers will just about stop your problem. Shock bodies can be expensive. Price a Fox Dynamix 3.0 and it will hurt your feelings. Lol
Unfortunately I don’t know of any manufacture who really takes east coast conditions into consideration when building these machines.
Super important to take care of your shocks by keeping them clean. I know guys who have completely wore through the Fox shock bodies on their machines. It’s crazy what dirt will do. Washing the dirt out or installing protective covers will just about stop your problem. Shock bodies can be expensive. Price a Fox Dynamix 3.0 and it will hurt your feelings. Lol
Unfortunately I don’t know of any manufacture who really takes east coast conditions into consideration when building these machines.
I agree with everyone who posted. I have ST springs that are clocked correctly but still see wear on the shock body. I ordered some 6” wide by .020 thick adhesive backed Teflon from Amazon, received it today, and plan on wrapping the shock body below the cross overs. I’ll post either way if works or not.
My plan was to wrap the shock body one time, I ended up wrapping it 3x and clocked the springs. It took up enough of a gap that it looks like my springs won’t contact the cross over which is a bonus. ( the cross overs we’re getting hammered from the springs).
I cleaned the shock body throughly, warmed it with a heat gun and had the roll of tape above my heater. It seems to stick very well.
I’ll update after I take it out this week.
My plan was to wrap the shock body one time, I ended up wrapping it 3x and clocked the springs. It took up enough of a gap that it looks like my springs won’t contact the cross over which is a bonus. ( the cross overs we’re getting hammered from the springs).
I cleaned the shock body throughly, warmed it with a heat gun and had the roll of tape above my heater. It seems to stick very well.
I’ll update after I take it out this week.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I greased the wheel bearings today and then clockeded the springs 180 degrees from each other as was suggested. I'll keep an eye on it and make sure they stay clean. I'll have to look into the wraps or the Teflon tape.
Clocking won’t stop the wear and tenders make it worse. I just sleeved mine with stainless steel pipe. It can rub and get as dirty as it wants to now. No more wear.
I had my machine out for a couple hours yesterday. I made it a point to get it wet and muddy then did my usual washing afterwards. The Teflon seems fine, hasn’t peeled and doesn’t seem like it’s worn at all ( granted it was only used for a couple hours). But it looks promising.
I think RZHLE has the better set up using stainless, Dafish said he has his covered and that he has no issues.
I’ll update again after I get more hours on it.
@rzrhle Any issues yet? I think I’m going to do this come fall, wonder if there’s an easier/cleaner way to secure the stainless tube to the shock body?
From Walker Evans, stock 2.5 replacement bodies are $195 ea + $20 ea for seal kits for a DIY replacement. A little extra if they install a new needle in the body prior to shipping.
ST will install a steel shock body(will not sell separate) at a cost of $195 per shock body and $125 cost of rebuild per shock, $610 total.
Stainless tubing is a lot cheaper than both of those options.
I have a small metal lathe, I’ll probably try to turn something that’s the correct diameter. Otherwise I’ll buy a kit like @rzrhle used, wouldn’t mind having one anyway. I might try to make them a tighter press fit and see if I can get away without having to do a lock screw.
My only concern with sleeving the bodies is trapping additional heat inside the shock since stainless doesn’t dissipate heat like aluminum but I don’t know how much a concern that truly is for trail riding.
Just wanted to let you know I tried using the method rzrhle used and it ended up getting a curved distortion on the second die so the best thing to do is to make guides so it stays straight. (You still use the same method but you are making guides to keep it from distorting)
I will post what I end up doing. Going to be a week or so, waiting on the tubing and seals to show up. My lathe is a small 7x16 so I’m limited to what I can make.
My bodies are pretty bad and new ones are over $500 so I figured I have nothing to lose. There’s no avoiding mud/silt here so the stainless tube you did seemed like the best long term solution.
I wonder if the shock was disassembled so you only have the body to deal with if it would be easier to press the SS tube over it. Would just need a way to clamp the body upside down in the press. Expand the SS tube, then use some kind of water soluble lube(I’ve got tube bending lube like this) on the body and press the tube over it.
I have access to a big lathe but I've already got this fare might as well finish with the press.
SNWMBL I saw you said something about them keeping heat in I'm hoping this wont be a problem for me cuz I'm a hard and fast rider.
I’m a hard fast rider and often my shocks get bottomed out jumping water break mounds. My front shocks for some reason get a lot hotter than my rear and they are not sleeved . I know this because I made the mistake in trying to set both front and rear to the most firm setting immediately after 10minutes of hard riding and I burned the crap out of my hand on the front reservoirs when trying to turn the knob all the way to hard setting. No issues with the stainless and heat with the rear that I can tell - no where near as hot as the front .